


Just Rest

by AriesOnMars



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, 宝石商リチャード氏の謎鑑定 | Housekishou Richard-shi no Nazo Kantei | The Case Files of Jeweler Richard (Anime)
Genre: Aftermath of a Case, B sees formal A voluntarily wearing casual clothes for 1st time while A is sick/injured, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pokemon Crossover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 06:00:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24190045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AriesOnMars/pseuds/AriesOnMars
Summary: Seigi makes it difficult for Richard to quietly suffer alone, but perhaps that's for the best.
Relationships: Richard Ranashinha de Vulpian/Nakata Seigi
Comments: 1
Kudos: 53
Collections: Hurt Comfort Exchange 2020





	Just Rest

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Moon_Blitz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moon_Blitz/gifts).



Most mornings Richard could be up before his alarm, making sure to get the exact amount of sleep he needed and breakfast ready and finished before he had to worry about Etranger opening. He’d never been late before if he could help it.

That day was different. He’d paused his alarm twice before he turned his phone off completely. It was well into the morning when he finally woke up and he’d have to rush to be able to go to the shop. But when he felt this tired and miserable was it really worth it? It would be better to have his clients wait and have an excellent experience than having them suffer through something sub-par. Given that he should have scheduled some time off just in case something like this were to happen after his last outing he really couldn’t bring himself to make a customer suffer through him like this. 

His limbs felt too heavy as he finally turned his phone back on. Seigi had sent him a few messages already, but even reading them seemed like more work than he could bear at the moment. It took too much out of him just to word a message to him, but he finally managed a short, concise text, and sent it.

_ The store will be closed today. Please enjoy your time off. _

Messages to clients were easier if only because being professional was so much simpler, and he turned his phone off again when he was finished. He was ready to sleep the rest of his miserable, aching feeling away if he could.

* * *

Richard wasn’t asleep as long as he would have liked. He was jarred awake from his doorbell, and then banging on his front door. Doorbell again, then the door, and someone was calling through it. He wanted so badly to stay asleep and in bed but there wasn’t anything to be done. Someone urgently needed his attention and he pushed himself up with a soft sound to make his way to the front door.

It felt like it took an hour just to make the trip but eventually he was at his door and able to check the doorbell camera. He frowned in confusion and just sort of stared at the image for a moment before his manners caught up to him and he opened the door to answer it properly.

“Seigi?” Richard started. Seigi didn’t let him get anymore out before he grabbed his shoulders, but Richard was a little relieved. He wasn’t sure what he would have said to the younger man anyway.

“Are you alright?” Seigi suddenly asked, and it took Richard a moment to really register the words.

“I’m ill,” he said simply, not sure what was so worrying about his absence. It was inconvenient, sure, but nothing more.

“No, I mean, the last time you didn’t come to the store--when you closed it, I--” Seigi was stumbling over his words some now, and with a pang of guilt Richard realized what the real problem was.

“This isn’t like that,” he admitted, and he awkwardly patted at Seigi’s side to try and encourage him to ease the grip on his shoulders. It felt like Seigi was holding as tight as he dared so Richard couldn’t disappear. “I really am just sick. I wouldn’t be able to tend to our clients properly, and I wouldn’t want to ask you to do everything on your own.”

“Oh,” Seigi relaxed a little and loosened his grip some. “So you really aren’t… you’re alright?”

“As well as can be expected,” Richard answered. Seigi gave him a smile so honest and relieved that it made Richard feel better just being close to him.

“So what do you need?” Seigi asked. Richard couldn’t help but smile at that and he shook his head carefully. 

“All I need is rest. It’s likely from overworking yesterday, I’ll be alright tomorrow.” A very small lie, if only by omission, but he didn’t want to make Seigi worry any more than he already had.

“Ah, alright then. Well…” Seigi was right on the edge of a decision, Richard could see it, but he just let the younger man take the moment he needed to decide. He was too tired to do much more, and the longer he stood like this the more he was leaning into Seigi’s hold on his shoulders. Finally the younger man spoke, “Can I come inside? I can help you get back to bed.”

Pride almost made Richard decline, but the thought of making the trip back to his bed alone made him nod instead and step aside for Seigi to come in.

* * *

Rest really was the best medicine right now. He would cycle through feeling so tired he couldn’t imagine even having the energy to sleep, to being uncomfortable and unable to find a good way to lay, but when Richard finally could settle down he really did feel so much better. He woke up slowly, not sure how long he had been out, and having to reach up to brush his mess of blond hair away from his eyes. Bright blue eyes that matched his own peered at him and he couldn’t help the single soft laugh at having the pokemon tucked in beside him in his bed.

“Did Seigi let you out?” Richard murmured as he brought the Carbink a little closer to hold it. There was a soft, charming sound, like the jingling of chimes, and the living jewel rolled to press against him.

“I thought they might be worried about you,” Seigi’s voice came and Richard turned to see him. The younger man was bringing in a tray and Richard started to try to sit up. His head swum and his limbs ached and he had to give up, and Carbink beside him gave another gentle sound that he would have sworn meant  _ just rest _ . Seigi set down the tray and moved to help Richard sit up himself, although it really was mostly just the younger man pulling him up while Richard simply didn’t fight against it. “You said this was from working, how hard did you work to get like this?”

“I could take offense when you put it like that. It sounds as though you’re blaming me for my own misfortune,” Richard said as he leaned against Seigi, he needed the support just to keep upright.

“I--no, I didn’t mean it like that! I was just--” Seigi was fretting and Richard stepped in just to keep him from worrying too long.

“I was poisoned last night,” Richard said simply as he picked up the spoon in the bowl of soup Seigi had brought for him.

“Poisoned? How? By who?”

“Oddish, I believe,” Richard answered and took a sip of the broth with a sigh. “I was acquiring a rough leaf stone for a client.”

“Why?”

“We don’t only serve humans, and some clients believe an evolutionary stone that’s been unpolished and untreated yields better results when used.” 

“No, no I mean why did they poison you?” Seigi asked. He shifted some on the bed, but it was just to put an arm around Richard and keep him sitting up. The movement did make the other man hesitate, his hazy mind had kept the thought at bay but now pride reminded Richard that he truly did not look his best, and even if he wasn’t expecting any sort of company that didn’t take away from the fact he was in a terrible state.

“I was in their home uninvited and that likely scared them. I don’t blame them for responding on instinct.”

“Do you really think you’ll be better by tomorrow?”

“I do,” Richard nodded a little. “This is bad now, but with rest and care this will work out of my system.”

“Then you just rest and I’ll handle the care,” Seigi said, far too easily in Richard’s opinion, and smiled at him. 

Richard almost disagreed but Carbink settling into the crook of his arm and snuggling against his side made him pause, and with that slight hesitation his resolve cracked and instead he nodded. He could have managed on his own, and alone, but being cared for and kept company would undoubtedly make his experience much more pleasant.


End file.
